SNL airs only the third episode this season & it's ALREADY A REPEAT?

Seriously? How has this shit stayed on the air for so long?
(P.S. - I'm sick of Tina Fey)

How are the ratings this season? I officially stopped watching until they change up and diversify the cast. Currently I like about 4 cast members.

I don't understand how this shit is STILL on either, but they must have some sort of an audience for it to still be on. I personally quit watching in 1996. Anytime I've tried watching it since it's always been unfunny.

I haven't watched a full episode of SNL on tv in years, but I check out the skits online. Every once in a while they'll do something funny, and every once in a great while they'll do something hilarious, but that's rare. For the most part, it's lame, flyover-type frat boy humor that to me is just dated and silly. And the dated part is weird, because the cast is relatively young. Lorne Michaels needs to retire already - he's so old, so rich, and so out-of-touch. They need a new showrunner with an edge.

I think that variety shows have simply ran their course. The format seems very dated in 2013.

I was surprised to see them repeat the Tina Fey episode already. It just aired a few weeks ago.
I might watch the opening because it is often political and somewhat amusing. But it generally goes downhill very quickly from there. Stupid, sophomoric, juvenile, boring, and desperately not funny. An exception is the news part of Weekend Update. But, even Weekend Update can suck when they fail to realize that the little mini-skits (featuring some odd characters) are just not funny and often go on too long.
I like Kenan Thompson. He can save almost any sketch he is in -- which is a pretty tall order.

get out and do something besides watch TV

Because Lorne Michaels is an old, lazy bastard.

OP, for quite some time, the rule for SNL has been three live shows and a week off each month. I don't know when this was implemented, but it must have had something to do with cast members in the past who were also working on films during the season.

OP, that's how they've always done it. They do three new shows (this season it was Tina Fey, Miley Cyrus and Bruce Willis) and then they get a week off.

I think it's been a three week on, one week off schedule pretty much since the beginning. It's been that way at least since Lorne left in 1980 - they were renewing Jean Doumanian's disastrous shows in 3 week cycles. And when Dick Ebersol took over they aired a live wrestling event he produced on those off weeks.

SNL is about white people and a token black or two.
This is white bread entertainment at it's lowest common denominator.
The new members are all white bread and seldom funny. It is cutting edge nothing and poor satire.
If not for Seth Meyers news bit it would be unwatchable
It's like vaudeville for the deaf and blind.

Tina Fey's time is up. Her TV show wasn't that great after the first season, but it went on and on and on. And here she is back again, because Lorne thinks she's a genius. Enough already.

There's usually no more than one good show a season and it's good because of the host. I don't know if they bring their own ideas or they are naturally good at that style of comedy or what. But I know a good host can make the skits funny and a bad host can kill them.

They should have a recurring host at least once a month-- someone who's been good in the past, like Melissa McCarthy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Justin Timberlake. Or maybe a former SNL star once a month. Some of the new people they put on are just there to promote their latest project and are often not suited for comedy or live TV. And most of the sports stars really suck (although I will admit that Peyton Manning was much better than I expected.)

I missed the Tina Fey episode when it first aired, so I watched. All I could think is, you had four months off and none of this is particularly funny for a premiere episode.
I was surprised to see that the e-meth commercial had also been recycled into last week's episode.

SNL is like the US version of Eastenders. It can't be killed.

They were 3 weekends on/one off in 1975 The weekend news show with Lloyd Dobbins and Linda Ellerby used to air on the 4th weekend. It was cancelled in 1979 and a rerun of the Tonight Show was then aired on the 4th weekend.

SNL is one of the last few successes left on the NBC calendar. It is also relatively cheap to make and the profit margin is high.

Chobby

SNL exists solely so that beer commercials can air during a 90 minute block on network tv on a weekend night. Beer money is what keeps SNL going.

SNL won't step its game up until it has to-with Mad TV and In Living Color no longer around, SNL has been allowed to turn into shit and almost all-white.

R20, it was probably a timing issue which led to the e-Meth commercial airing so soon again. They insert previous pre-taped stuff in there if they suddenly need to fill time.

What I don't understand is how do they get the live audience to laugh at so many stupid fucking skits? Is it really just nervous laughter because they feel some sort of obligation? Are they paid?

Lindsey Lohan has a lot on her plate and has no time to host anymore.

[quote] All I could think is, you had four months off and none of this is particularly funny for a premiere episode.
It doesn't seem that the writers spend any of their off weeks or months writing or thinking about the show or stockpiling ideas for future sketches. Instead, all the writing for a show takes place in the days right before it airs. Actually, I think almost all of the writing for each show is done in a single day (Wednesday?), which probably explains why so much of it sucks. NBC needs to get rid of Lorne and bring in someone fresh who will completely overhaul the way the show is done. Of course that won't happen.